I haven't seen any scientific studies, but suspect growth hormone fed to farm raised animals headed for the food chain could possibly play a factor. There's no question people are larger and it's not all due to sedentary lifestyle as we're being lead to believe. Excessive weight is becoming a problem in every career field in countries where growth hormones are heavily used.

So it's conceivable even animal products in dog food or hormones in meat in homemade prepared food, could be what's making our dogs larger. Because genetics, as we know by the care we take in choosing our dogs from sound lines, plays a tremendous role in offspring results . . .but environmental factors can certainly affect weight.

While I do agree with you about the problems with growth hormones in our food supply (one of the many reasons my family eats organic) I DON'T think Havanese have gotten larger as a breed. In general, I think many breeders are breeding more toward the bottom of the "ideal" size range. There have always been large Havs. Kodi is considerably larger than his parents (or any other dogs the Kings have bred) and he has always been fed organic food, so no growth hormones there!

Krandall, since muscle is much more dense than fat so takes up less space and Kodi is slim, naturally his weight would be more than a comparable sized but much lighter sedentary dog simply because of his wonderful agility training. My comment about growth hormones wasn't in the least directed toward you, but rather pondering out loud on factors I think (again, I have no scientific data) COULD play a role in larger people and larger dogs.

If my pup at 11 weeks is 2.4 kg, any idea on where that sits in terms of being on the larger/smaller side for his age?? I don't mind either way, just curious.

Raider was weighed earlier this week (11 weeks 2 days) and was 1.77 kg (3.9 lbs) His mother is small, father in the median range. Raider was the smallest in his litter, just to give you an idea. Most Havanese weigh somewhere between 4.5 kg and 7.25 kg (10 lbs to 16 lbs) but as you can see Havanese come in all sizes.

Quincy will be 8 months old on the 18th and when I got on the scale with him here at home, it looks like he's at about 15 pounds now (maybe a little under because my scale isn't always as accurate as the vet's). Last month he was 13.7 on the vet's scale, so it looks like he's slowing down a little bit. He's not fat at all, very active and very muscular. And he only eats 3/4 cups of food a day. Sometimes I worry that I'm not giving him enough since he wolfs it down every time I feed him. He's eating three times a day and his food is grain free, but I mix it with about 1/2 TBS of puppy wellness canned (except at lunch). He doesn't get a lot of treats, but he does like his apple cut up and put in a Kong. His parents are both under 10 pounds and his sister is more in line with the parent's weights.
It's interesting to see all the weight variations.

Quincy will be 8 months old on the 18th and when I got on the scale with him here at home, it looks like he's at about 15 pounds now (maybe a little under because my scale isn't always as accurate as the vet's). Last month he was 13.7 on the vet's scale, so it looks like he's slowing down a little bit. He's not fat at all, very active and very muscular. And he only eats 3/4 cups of food a day. Sometimes I worry that I'm not giving him enough since he wolfs it down every time I feed him. He's eating three times a day and his food is grain free, but I mix it with about 1/2 TBS of puppy wellness canned (except at lunch). He doesn't get a lot of treats, but he does like his apple cut up and put in a Kong. His parents are both under 10 pounds and his sister is more in line with the parent's weights.
It's interesting to see all the weight variations.

I'm not t all sure the vet scales are accurate for our small dogs. I have weighed Kodi at my vet's office 2 weeks apart, and had the weight come out a full pound different. That's a big change on a little dog, and he doesn't eat enough that it could be because of what's in his stomach! I don't believe the scale.

Raider was weighed at the breeder's vet last Thursday and at my own vet this past Tuesday. Both days, 3 pounds 9 ounces. I have, on occasion, however, asked the vet tech to re-weigh when I've noticed her hand on Isabella to hold her still. Just that little bit of pressure affected the scale.

I have a kitchen scale I use for baking that's extremely accurate . . .but only goes to 10 pounds. It does a nice job monitoring Raider's weight, though. I'd like to find one large enough to monitor Isabella's however . . .she has to be the finickiest eater on the planet . . .some weeks only eating three meals. She's never once eaten seven straight days in a week . . .but her vet isn't the least concerned. LOL. Raider hasn't turned his nose up at a meal yet . . .

Charley is about 13 pounds and his parents are 11-12 pounds. I was concerned about his weight and have actually cut back on his food. I think he has slimmed a little bit although he wasn't overweight to start with. He'll be a year old on the 22nd and I think he had stopped growing but who knows. Anyway, 6 months is weigh (no pun intended) too earlier to tell adult weight.